2013 Nurburgring World Superbike | Results

Following a month-long break, the 2013 World Superbike Championship resumed Sunday at the Nurburgring in Germany.

Splitting wins were Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes, who won a red-flagged race one, and BMW Motorrad GoldBet’s Chaz Davies, who won a red-flagged race 2.

With his win and fourth-place finish in race 2, Sykes regains the World SBK Championship lead. The Brit now has 287 points, one ahead of Aprilia Racing Team’s Sylvain Guintoli.

Race 1 Recap

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) won the first eni FIM Superbike World Championship race at the Nurburgring.

The race was red-flagged on the eighteenth lap as a result of two crashes that involved Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), who both lost control of their bikes at Turn 9 on the oil left on track by Federico Sandi’s Team Pedercini ZX-10R broken engine. During the wreck, Rea broke his left femur.

Once the flag came out, Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) was on the lead after a successful overtake at the first turn but, as the final results were based on the previous lap, Sykes was awarded with the victory, with Melandri’s teammate Chaz Davies to complete the podium. The three riders, along with Rea, rode together up front, but it was Sykes who led almost the entire race, after overtaking Melandri at the second turn during the opening lap.

Factory Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty ended up 15th after crashing out of Turn 4 in the early stages of the race, and rejoining following a pit-stop. Home rider Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing Ducati) had to withdraw from the race due to a technical problem occurred on the fourth lap.

Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier were both flown by helicopter to the hospital. Rea was diagnosed with a broken left femur, while Camier was sent for precautionary measure due to an injury on the top of his neck.

Race 2 Recap

Chaz Davies got back on the top step of the podium after winning the second race of the day, that was red-flagged on the nineteenth lap after wildcard Matej Smrz (Yamaha Motor Deutschland) suffered a high-side and landed on track next to his YZF-R1.

The Welshman successfully defended the lead in the final laps in a three-way battle with second place Eugene Laverty and team mate Marco Melandri. Davies was able to repeat exactly the same results scored last year in the two races, and achieved a long-awaited race win after the double victory at Aragon earlier in 2013.

Despite the absence of three top riders due to injuries sustained today – Loris Baz during the warm-up, Leon Camier and Jonathan Rea in first race – Race 2 was characterized by a fierce battle up front for the win. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Sylvain Guintoli finished fourth and fifth respectively, after being very close to the front for most of the 18 laps completed.

The two riders, though, could not manage to get in the mix for the top-3, as well as sixth place Davide Giugliano, who lost a lot of ground in the closing stages.

Top-10 was completed by Ayrton Badovini, Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Aprilia) and Max Neukirchner (MR-Racing Ducati), with Badovini’s team mate Carlos Checa in eleventh place. Jules Cluzel’s performance was hampered by a temporary technical problem, as the FIXI Crescent Suzuki rider was able to rejoin and to end up fifteenth.

Sykes and Guintoli are still separated by one point, but the factory Kawasaki rider is now the new leader in the standings, at the end of the tenth round of the season.